Host plants provide leaves for laying eggs, camouflage, shelter, reproduction, and larvae food. Nectar-producing flowering plants provide food for butterflies.

Ultimately, we would be cookingВ and eating healthier (another one of my hobbies, making Paleo recipe's), be more active, and maybe even enjoy a few butterfly sitings. Now that my daughter really enjoys the outdoors, it couldn't be a better time to start a vegetable and butterfly garden. My dream has always been to one day do the same with my own children. As a young girl, my older sister and I would grow veggies and flowers in our backyard. Gardening has been a long time hobby of mine. Pat Birdsong, Volunteer Coordinator, beautifully captured this malachite on the Seminole dombeya, also referred to as the Florida hydrangea or tropical rose hydrangea. On a family trip to Flamingo Gardens, my toddler wasВ absolutely delighted by their butterflies.В They have a spectacular array of species fluttering around. It is an excellent source of nectar for butterflies and a larval host to some moths. Black-eyed Susan is an important component in erosion control and offers protection and food to several song and game birds. It blooms spring through fall, and after flowering and seed maturation, the plants die. It is a perennial that grows 12-24вЂќ tall with deep yellow ray flowers with dark brown spherical centers. floridan is endemic to Central and South Florida. It is found throughout Florida, but the variety Rudbeckia hirta var. Rudbeckia hirta is commonly known as Black-eyed Susan or Coneflowers. These are a just a few of the plants that have performed well at Flamingo Gardens in our Florida Wildflower Garden: Your best option is to find a local nursery that specializes in native plants to find species that grow well in the southern part of the state. Not all Florida native wildflowers will grow well here in South Florida. Most native wildflowers are drought tolerant and have little need for irrigation, reducing water usage as well. Landscaping with native wildflowers can also eliminate the need for lawn equipment, thereby helping reduce emissions of air pollutants and helping to improve air quality. They have adapted to local conditions and are more resistant to pest problems, thereby reducing the need for harmful pesticides and helping to reduce harmful toxic runoff. Native wildflowers are good for the environment as well.

Wildflowers are critical to Florida crop production and agriculture as they serve as food and protection for pollinators like birds and bees as well as for native wildlife. FloridaвЂ™s indigenous people and early settlers used wildflowers for food and medicinal purposes. When Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted land in the new world in 1513, he dubbed it La Florida - вЂњland of flowersвЂќ. Wildflowers have long held great significance in Florida. The Florida Wildflower Foundation defines вЂњFlorida native wildflowerвЂќ as вЂњany flowering herbaceous species that grew wild within the stateвЂ™s natural ecosystems in the 1560s when FloridaвЂ™s first botanical records were created.вЂќ The solution can be in selecting Florida native wildflowers that can withstand our local climate.Д¬oreopsis is the State Wildflower of Florida. Wildflowers commonly purchased at the big-box retailers act more like annuals here and often die out quickly in our hot and humid summers that's usually because they're not suited for our area.

A wildflower garden can be gratifying endeavor for gardeners that prefer an informal or 'cottage garden' look, but growing one can be challenging in South Florida.

Flamingo garden